Sole press



Dec. 6, 1938. G. A..MUSsE|.| s

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l'nveHTCr. George A. MusseHs A'TyS.

Dec. 6, 1938;..

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Patented Dec. 6, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Application September 30, 1936, Serial No. 103,256 In Canada October 11, 1935 10 Claims.

This invention relates to sole presses of the type illustrated in my Patent No. 2,018,684, dated October 29, 1935.

The sole press of said patent comprises a skeleton frame having an open center and one or more sole-pressing members of elastic sheet material spanning the opening through the frame and against which the shoe sole may be pressed, said sole-pressing members extending from one side portion to the other of the frame transversely to the length of the shoe and being secured to the side portions. In using the device the assembled shoe and shoe sole are placed in position above the sole-pressing members and then pressure is i5- applied to the shoe to force the sole against the sole-pressing members, the latter str-etching as the pressure is appliedA and moving downwardly with the shoe into the open center of the frame.

Where the shoe sole rests directly against the stretching sole-pressing member the stretching movement thereof tends to apply a greater pressure against the marginal side portions of the sole than against the center thereof, and one purpose of the present invention is to provide an.

improved form of sole-pressing member which operates to apply an even pressure over the entire bottom of the sole notwithstandingthe stretching action of the sole-pressing member when the shoe is subjected to the sole-attaching pressure.

A further object of the invention is to provide a bed for a sole press having improved means for positioning the shoe when it is iirstplaced thereon and before the sole-attaching pressure is applied thereto.

35 Other objects of the invention are to improve generally sole presses in the various particulars hereinafter set forth.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a sectional View of a sole press embodying the invention and showing the shoe in position but before the sole-attaching pressure is applied;

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the position of the shoe when subjected to the sole-attaching.

The,

opening 2 of the frame is spanned by one or more sole-pressing members of elastic sheet material, three such sole-pressing members (3, 8 and 35) being illustrated herein. The ends of the solepressing member 8 overlie the top of the side members 5 of the frame and are secured thereto by suitablev clamping strips I5. The ends of the sole-pressing member 3 extend through slots 4 in the side pieces 5 and are secured to the side pieces by the clamping strip 6. pressing. member extend through slots 22 in the sides 5V and are secured to said sides by the clamping strips 23.

IU indicates a shoe having a sole II which is to be cemented thereto. 1'5

The sole-pressing member 3 is designed to apply pressure to the fore part I2 of the sole, the sole-pressing member 8 is designed to apply the sole-attaching pressure to the shank I3 of the sole and the sole-pressing member 35 is designed 20 to apply the sole-attaching pressure to the heel portion 34 of the sole. The sole-pressing member 3 is normally in a slightly stretched condition asy described in my above-mentioned Patent No. 2,018,684, while the sole-pressing member 8, which 25 is shown as somewhat thicker than the solepressing member 3, is normally' under less tension than the sole-pressing member 3, and in fact vmay have a concave upper face in a direction transversely of the sole of the shoe and a slightly 30 convex upper-face in the direction of the length of the sole.

The construction thus far described is similar to thatr show-n in my above-mention-ed Patent No. 2,018,684, and in the operatoin of cementing 35 a sole II tothe shoe I0, the latter, with its last I8therein, is placed in position above the solepressing members and is then subjected tor the sole-attaching pressure through the medium of a pressure head I6, the latter having the jack pin I'I to enter a` corresponding hole in the last I8` and having a rest I9 to apply the pressure to the fore part" of the shoe.. The downward pressure on the jack or head I6 may be secured through any suitable means, one device for this purpose being illustrated in my above-mentioned' patent;

When the sole-attaching pressure is applied to the shoe and the latter isk forced downwardly into'the open center 2 of the frame as shown in 50 Fig. 1,. the sole-pressing members become stretched. The stretching action of said members while the sole is resting against them tends tocause agreater' pressure to be applied to the edges of the sole than to` the central part.

The ends of the solelo In order to provide for a more even distribution of the pressure against the sole, I propose to place on each sole-pressing member a sheet or pad of rubber which is normally in an unstretched condition and which is unattached to the sole-pressing member so that when the shoe is pressed against the elastic sole-pressing members the sole of the shoe has contact with a portion that is not subjected to a stretching action.

In Fig. 1 there is shown a sheet 4l) of unstretched rubber which may have any desired thickness and which overlies the sole-pressing member 3. This member 40 is not attached either to the frame or to the sole-pressing member 3 but rests loosely on said sole-pressing member so that when the sole-attaching pressure is applied to. the shoe the fore part of the sole has contact with a substantially non-stretching face carried by the elastic and stretchable sole-pressing member 3,

4l indicates another sheet of normally unstretched rubber'which rests loosely on but is unattached to the sole-pressing member 8 through which pressure is applied to the shank of the shoe. These normally unstretched sheets 40 and 4l may have any desired thickness and may be made of rubber or other suitable material. Each sheet is shown as `comprising a body portion faced with thin layers 42 of rubber.

When the sole-attaching pressure is applied to the shoe the sole-pressing members 3 and 8 become stretched as shown in Fig. 9, but the presence of the pads or sheets 4B, 4I which are not attached either to the frame or to the solepressing members serve to provide a better distribution of the pressure over the bottom face of the sole than if the sole contacted directly with the stretching members 3 and 8.

45 represents an elastic bed situated beneath the sole-pressing member 3 and against which the latter may be forced as the pressure is applied to the shoe. This bed 45 is supported on the base 2S of the frame and may be formed of a layer 4t of rubber and a second layer 47 of sponge rubber or some other easily compressible material. During the final downward movement of the shoe the sole-pressing member 3 engages the bed 45 which will yield to permit the final downward movement of the shoe. This bed serves to apply additional pressure to the fore part of the sole therebyto eifect a proper union between the sole and the shoe bottom.

The sole press herein shown is also provided with a device for assisting in holding the shoe in position prior to the application of the solecementing pressure thereto. This device comv prises two oppositely disposed spring-pressed pins 48, each slidably mounted in a block 49 secured to the side of the frame I. Each pin 48 has a head 59 provided with a recess 5l in which is received a ball 52. The edge 53 of the recess is turned inwardly slightly to retain the ball in place. Each head50 is acted on by a spring 54 which tends to move the pin inwardly and the outer end 55 of each pin is screw-threaded and has a nut or collar 56 screw-threaded thereon which serves to limit the spring-pressed movement of the pin. Each pin is shown as splined to the block 49 as indicated at 51 so that the pin can move back and forth through the opening in the block but is prevented from rotative movement. The pins 48 are thus independently operative, that is, each pin can yield backwardly against the action of its spring independently of the movement of the other pin.

When the shoe is placed in position on the bed the shank portion of the shoe will be crowded between the balls 52 and the springs 54 will allow the heads 5 to move backwardly sufciently to permit the shoe to be entered between the balls. The springs 54 hold the balls yieldingly in engagement with the sides of the shoe as shown in Figs. 6 and '7 and thus assist in holding the shoe in proper position until the sole-attaching pressure is applied thereto. This positioning de- Vice cooperates with the specially shaped solepressing member 8 to hold the shoe accurately in position before the application of the solecementing pressure. This construction obvates the necessity of the operator retaining his hold on the shoe to keep it in proper position after the shoe has been placed in the device and before the sole-attaching pressure is applied. The balls 52 are free to turn in their sockets 5l and hence they will not mar or injure the surface of the shoe when the shoe is positioned between them.

I claim:

l. A sole press comprising a skeleton frame, a plurality of sole-pressing members in the form of sheets of elastic material spanning the opening in the frame and extending across said opening, said sheets being secured to the sides of the frame, .a pad of rubber of uniform thickness loosely resting on at least one of said sole-pressing members and against which the shoe sole has Contact when the sole-attaching pressure is applied and shoe-positioning members for engaging yieldingly'the sides of the shoe at points spaced from the sole thereby to maintain said shoe in position for theapplication thereto of the sole-attaching pressure.

2. A sole press comprising a skeleton frame, a plurality of sole-pressing members in the form of sheets of elastic material secured to the sides of the frame and spanning the opening therein and against which the sole of the shoe is pressed, said frame having an elastic bed situated beneath but normally spaced from the sole-pressing member through which pressure is applied to the fore part of the sole and against which bed said sole-pressing member is pressed when the soleattaching pressure is applied.

3. A sole press comprising a frame, elastic sole-pressing members carried thereby and through which pressure is applied to the sole and two independently operative yielding shoe-positioning members carried loy the frame and adapted to engage the opposite sides of the shoe when placed in position to have pressure applied to the sole thereof.

4. A sole press comprising a frame, elastic solepressing members carried thereby and through which pressure is applied to the sole of the shoe, a yielding shoe-positioning member carried by each side of the frame, said shoe-positioning members being independently operative and adapted to yieldingly engage the side of the shoe and retain the latter in position after it has been placed in the press but before the sole-attaching pressure is applied thereto.

5. A sole press comprising a frame, a plurality of elastic sole-pressing members secured thereto, a shoe-positioning member secured to each side of the frame, each shoe-positioning member being in the form of a spring-pressed laterally yielding pin carrying a freely rotatable ball at its end.

6. A sole press comprising a frame, elastic solepressing members carried thereby and through which pressure is applied to the sole of the shoe, means to press the shoe against the sole-pressing members, and independently operative yielding shoe-positioning members adapted to engage yieldingly the sides of the shoe at points spaced from the sole and retain the shoe in position after it has been placed in the press but before the sole-attaching pressure is applied thereto,

7. A sole press comprising a frame, elastic solepressing members carried thereby and through which pressure is applied to the sole of the shoe, means to press the shoe against the sole-pressing members and shoe-positioning members, one each side of the shoe, said members being capable of independent lateral yielding movement but being fixed With relation to the frame in a vertical direction and adapted to engage yield ingly the sides of the shoe at points spaced from the sole thereof as said shoe is placed in the press thereby to position the shoe for the application thereto of the sole-attaching pressure.

8. A sole press comprising a frame, elastic Solepressing members carried thereby and through which pressure is applied to the sole of the shoe, means to press the shoe against the sole-pressing members, and two opposed shoe-positioning members having rounded shoe-engaging ends and independently operative to engage yieldingly the sides of the shoe at points spaced from the sole thereby to maintain the s'hoe in position for application thereto of the sole-attaching pressure.

9. A sole press comprising a skeleton frame, a plurality of sole-pressing members in the form of sheets of elastic stretchable material secured to opposite sides of the frame and spanning the opening therein, means to press the shoe against said members thereby forcing the unsupported portions of said members into the opening in the skeleton frame an-d causing said members to stretch, and a pad of rubber of uniform thickness loosely resting on but unattached to the stretchable sole-pressing members and interposed between the latter and the sole of the shoe.

10. A sole press comprising a frame, a yielding sole-pressing element carried thereby and through which pressure is applied to the sole of the shoe, means to press the shoe against said solepressing element, and two superposed shoepositioning members having rounded shoe-engaging ends, one adapted to engage each side of the shoe, a spring acting on each shoe-positioning member and at all times urging said member inwardly, each member being free at all times to be moved backwardly against the action of its spring independently of the other member, said shoe-positioning members serving to maintain the shoe in position for application thereto or the sole-attaching pressure.

GEORGE A. MUSSELLS. 

